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Political Administration

India is a democracy. Before its independence its future leaders chose the
liberal democratic system as the administration system of India. On 26/01/1950,
India declared itself as Republic. On this day the Constitution of India came
into force. Today India is a federation of 28 states and 7 union territories and
formally this federation is known as a Union.

Nominally the head of the country is the President in whom all executive powers
are vested, but the real administrator of the country is the Prime Minister.
After the national elections are held the President calls the most suitable
candidate to form a government, known as the central government. Normally this
candidate is the head of the largest party in the parliament. In case the
government resigns because of any reason, the President can call the other
candidate to form the government. The President can also declare, according to
government advice, on new elections and if necessary an emergency state. The
President has the right to be updated about crucial government matters and other
rights like giving amnesty to prisoners etc. According to the Constitution,
elections are to be held once in every five years, unless the parliament
dissolves earlier or on the other hand, emergency is declared and in such a case
parliament can continue another year.

The Indian Parliament consists of two houses. The Lower House called the Lok
Sabha and the Upper House called the Rajya Sabha. In the national elections
candidates are chosen for the Lower House. The candidates are elected in
territorial constituencies. There are 543 territorial constituencies. Two
members from the Anglo-Indian community are nominated to the Lower House by the
President. The law, which obliges Government office to reserve 15% from the
Scheduled Castes and 7% from the Scheduled Tribes, also exists in the
Parliament. At least 22% of the Indian Parliament members belong to these two
communities (see Caste system in modern India). In the past few years there is
an attempt to oblige a law to allow about 33% women as Parliament members.

The Upper House, Rajya Sabha, consists of up to 250 members. Of these members
230 are elected by state legislatures and about 15 are nominated by the
President. Unlike the Lower House, the Upper House cannot be dissolved, but one
third of its members resign every two years.

Most of the parliamentary activities, passing laws, no-confidence votes, budget
bills, take place in the Lower House. The Upper House together with the Lower
House amends the Constitution. These two Houses together with the state
legislatures also elect the President.

The states have their own legislatures. Some states have two Houses and some
only one House. The Lower House where most of the legislature activities happen
is called the Vidhan Sabha. The state elections are held every five years unless
the state government is dissolved earlier. In these elections members for the
Lower House are elected.

Head of a state is called Chief Minister, who is member of the Lower House.
Constitutionally the figurehead of the state is the Governor, who is appointed
by the President according to the advice of the national government. After the
state elections the governor calls for the suitable candidate to form the
government. In general the governor has more legislative rights at state level
than the President has at national level. The governor can call on early
elections in the state, or fire the government if he thinks that the government
has failed or is unstable.

In the federal relations between the state and central government, the central
government has more authority on state matters than the state government. For
example the central government has the right to redistribute the state borders
without consulting the state governments on this matter. If the political
conditions in any state are not stable, the national government can call on the
President to declare President's rule in that specific state. And so the
government in that state is dissolved, which means an emergency rule is declared
and sometimes if necessary the army is put to work in that state.

Even though the Constitution determinates the rights of the different
authorities in the administration process, there can be other pressures like
strong lobbies or strong political parties, which, sometimes determinate the
real administration process. Sometimes the authority implemented by the
President is questioned by the government or by political parties as deviation
from his constitutional rights as the nominal head of the Union.